Felix Rosenqvist has given himself the perfect opportunity to double up on his Berlin ePrix win from yesterday by landing the Julius Baer Pole Position for this afternoon’s race.
The Mahindra racer was only fifth fastest in the group session, but his lap of 1:08.208 proved to be enough for his second Formula E career pole, while the three bonus points he scored means that he’s moved ahead of Nico Prost and into third overall in the standings.
“I saw the lap was 1:08.2, which was a half second slower than free practice, so I thought maybe I’m P3, P4,” he said. “But to improve on yesterday and get three points is… Wow! Unbelievable.”
Championship leader Sebastien Buemi will line up alongside the Swede for Renault e.dams and with his principle title rival Lucas di Grassi lining up back in seventh, he was happy with the job he did.
“[I’m] always a bit disappointed when you see that it’s [the gap] less than a tenth, but a great job by Felix today,” he said. “I just hope I can turn this good qualifying position into a good race.”
After missing out on pole by 0.001s yesterday, Jose Maria Lopez was 0.2s off the top spot this time around in third place for DS Virgin Racing. His team-mate Sam Bird was fastest in the group stages, but he didn’t have the pace when it mattered and he’ll start fourth. Jean-Eric Vergne was the final member of the Super Pole quintet, but a scrappy lap from the TECHEETAH ace means he starts fifth.
Oliver Turvey did a fantastic lap for NextEV NIO to end up in sixth place, ahead of di Grassi. Daniel Abt will line up next to his team-mate in eighth, while Mitch Evans starred once again for Panasonic Jaguar Racing to set the ninth best time. Prost completes the top 10 for Renault e.dams.
The teams now have a short break in which to tweak their cars to the hot conditions in Berlin before the race starts at 4pm local time.
Qualifying times
1. Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, 1:08.208
2. Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, 1:08.306
3. Jose Maria Lopez, DS Virgin Racing, 1:08.454
4. Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, 1:08.688
5. Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, 1:09.103
6. Oliver Turvey, NextEV NIO, 1:08.142
7. Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 1:08.223
8. Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, 1:08.348
9. Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 1:08.356
10. Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, 1:08.465
11. Loic Duval, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, 1:08.483
12. Jerome D'Ambrosio, Faraday Future Dragon Racing, 1:08.552
13. Maro Engel, Venturi, 1:08.582
14. Robin Frijns, Andretti, 1:08.583
15. Tom Dillmann, Venturi, 1:08.738
16. Stephane Sarrazin, TECHEETAH, 1:08.822
17. Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti, 1:09.085
18. Nelson Piquet Jr, NextEV NIO, 1:09.149
19. Adam Carroll, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 1:09.543
20. Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, 1:11.267